Laparoscopic surgery involves creating one or more relatively small incisions in a subject that provide a surgeon's tools with access to a surgical site. Laparoscopic surgery enjoys certain advantages over more invasive procedures because the small surgical incisions often require less time to heal, are less painful, and leave smaller scars. On the other hand, in these minimally invasive techniques a surgeon generally operates in a highly constrained space within a patient's body such as the abdominal cavity.
Moreover, inside the abdominal cavity, organs and other tissue may obstruct access to a surgical site. For example, with a patient lying supine on an operating table, the patient's liver typically covers the gallbladder. Thus, laparoscopic procedures on a gallbladder often involve a precursor step of moving and securing the patient's liver away from the surgical site. This typically requires an additional person to manipulate the liver during the procedure and perform related tasks such as manipulating a light or camera, which can further limit the surgeon's working space inside and outside the abdominal cavity.
There remains a need for improved surgical tools to simplify laparoscopic surgical procedures.